"Do you have some kind of a root cellar to store them?" - I have a block outbuilding with a storm shelter basement. Main floor is kept dark and is super-insulated to moderate the storage temperature 365 days a year at minimal expense, the harvest is stored in there. I also have a storage refrigerator, a storage deep freezer, and I do a lot of dehydrating and canning. Different, often multiple, preservation methods are used depending on the vegetable. I try to cover all the bases. :-) "You garden looks extremely large, yet relatively weed free. How do you keep it that way?" - By spending the last three days cleaning it up. LOL This is the start of my new main garden, this is the second year. Below pic shows view facing southeast. I surrounded it by electric fence this year to keep the deer and raccoons out, it worked fantastic and I wish I had done this to my other gardens a long time ago. The tilled area is approximately 70 feet by 70 feet, with another 50 feet inside the fence that will be broken up this fall yet (hopefully). It can be expanded another 225 feet if needed. Seriously, I am screwed. This is one of seven gardens and only the first one to be thoroughly cleaned and prepped for next year. Usually I am winding down the garden cleanup by this time. The kitchen garden is tiny and should only take half a day. Two others had been worked on back in August and should only take one day apiece to clean up. Another primary garden is going to take two to three days and the last primary garden will take at least three days to clean and prep and may have to be abandoned for this year. The final garden I consider a low priority garden and I have already abandoned it for this year. I mowed everything off and will attack it if time permits, but would be the last thing I do before the snow flies. With all this nice weather and the continued harvests and processing, I simply procrastinated so I do not think I will have time for all the garden cleanup. Garlic planting season is approaching fast and also have fall chores such as leaf/lawn cleanup, tree trimming and wood cutting/splitting/stacking, horseradish harvest and processing, digging up remaining root vegetables, winter site prep, etc. I don't see it all happening unless the nice weather holds out into December, which we all know is a dicey prospect in Minnesota. "What is the large, fairly tall plant to the left of the parsnips?" - Tobacco. Been growing out different varieties in isolation for seed. I no longer smoke (in fact I became allergic to nicotine, which made it "easy" for me to quit the smoking habit cold turkey - 4 1/2 years smoke free) but it is an interest of mine to see what varieties grow well up here. I have around 15 different varieties in my collection and I know how to properly cure the stuff, which is not that easy to do up in this cold climate. The other isolated plants in that picture are volunteer flowers I am saving for seed. I let wild flowers grow rather than treat them as weeds as they attract pollinating insects into the garden. All that is left in this garden food-wise is parsnips, celery, and kale. Easy stuff to harvest and clean up when the time comes. Still have to remove the debris piles in the garden, will have to pick away at that project when time permits. FYI the crop in the background of photo is sugar beets. A deer attractant, believe me. Sounds like you are getting a decent pepper harvest up there. I would like to try those little sweet peppers myself, will keep an eye out for them at the big box grocery. I am curious if this is approaching record territory for your area regarding delayed first frost? We went this late into October just two years ago, but before that we went a decade-plus of having first frosts in September. My records show a couple of October first frosts in the nineties and a string of October first frosts back in the late eighties. -Tom

Well, now that I've finished the Pick-A-Peck of Peppers Swap, I can focus on this year's pepper crop. My growlist changed quite a bit since I first posted my growlist. Here is the final version, though I may possibly still add a couple more: Aji Panca - sowed about a week ago Aji Yellow - 2 out of 2 are up (Thanks, Ajijoe!) Alma Paprika - all four are up, yeah! Ancho Gigantia - 1 out of 2 up so far Ancho San Luis - 1 out of 2 up so far Chilhaucle Rojo - sowed about a week ago Chimayo - 2 out of 2 are up Choricero - sowed about a week ago Cosa Arrugada - sowed about a week ago College 64 - 1 out of 2 up so far Czechoslovakian Black - one sprouted and fizzled out, resowed Frank's - 2 out of 2 are up Fresno - resowed Georgia Flame - 2 out of 2 are up Giant Szegedi - 1 out of 2 up Jimmy Nardello - 1 out of 2 up Joe E. Parker - 2 out of 2 are up Kalocsai V2 - resowed, then 1 sprouted the next day from the first sowing Lemon Drop - 2 out of 2 up (I literally had seeds in my hand to resow, and they suddenly appeared, LOL) NuMex Espanola Imp.- sowed about a week ago NuMex Pinata - sowed about a week ago Peppadew - sowed about a week ago Pimente de Padron - sowed about a week ago Sandia - 2 out of 2 are up Santa Fe Grande - had to resow Serrano Tampiqueno - 1 is up, and the other is on its way I'm pretty pleased with the germination so far, considering, I have no heat mat or light set up. That will change soon though. My husband brought home an old light fixture from work, and bought me a grow lamp to go in it. Now he just has to mount it to the table that my peppers are on, and I'll be all set : ) How's everyone else's pepper crop coming along? Bonnie

I started growing bhut jolokias a couple of years ago. They do have a low germination rate. It is very important to use fresh seeds that were dried properly. Last year I spent close to $20 on about 30 seeds and had good germination from them. They came from a company called "seed man". I have read good and bad about the company. I had very good germination rates from most of it, but low on a couple of them and none of the Vietnamese Hot peppers germinated at all. So you spend your money and take your chances I suppose. Seeds are living things and some just don't do well. The seeds I saved had much lower germination rates. I'm still learning how to handle them and prepare them properly. This year I bought live plants, mostly for convenience and I suspect my own had bred with other varieties. But these Jolokies do not like the cold, they prefer high temperatures. And bugs love the leaves so you have to keep them dusted. Also, they are very late season, so people in northern latitudes have to get started indoors really early if you expect to get anything ripe. On the positive side, they apparently do well indoors. I brought one plan in for the winter. After loosing some foliage from the shock it took off and grew really well all winter. Lots of foliage under no light other than a 26 watt CFL (100W equivalent), but didn't produce any flowers or peppers all winter.

Before the year's officially over, I thought I'd share two pics of my wintering peppers. I actually took both plants outdoors this morning, blasted the aphids off the Chocolate Hab, gave them both a mild fertigation, and then left them outside on the deck all day. Chocolate Hab, after a good rinsing of the aphids..... And my three year-old Hungarian wax. Slowly but surely it's greening up and regaining vitality. By March, I'll have it pruned down to force back-budding and branching lower on the trunk, making for a stronger plant capable of supporting more fruit. You can also compare how aggressively I pruned my Chocolate Hab....I don't just talk the talk, I whack the peppers, too ;) Josh